QAs dated 23 May 2024.pdf

FA8650-24-S-9760

Ephemeral Paragon (E-Gon)

Question and Answers (Q&As)

Q&As dated 23 May 2024

1. Question: We wanted to inquire about getting a sponsorship to get upgraded to TS so we could participate in the solicitation and hopefully the contract as well.

Answer: There is nothing that prohibits any company from submitting a White Paper under Step 1 of the E-Gon Solicitation. If a company can provide a current, approved DD 2345, it can receive the CUI Information Package. Not having the security clearances required for performance, at this point, does not automatically bar a company from potential consideration in Step 1. Please refer to FA2385-24-S- 9760 Amendment 2, dated 13 May 2024, for additional clarification regarding the security requirements of this program. All white paper submissions will be reviewed in accordance with the solicitation, ReACT MAA and the ReACT Industry Guide. The E-Gon program is not prepared to provide any financial support or take on any liability for companies wishing to pursue higher security clearance levels.

2. Question: Would it be possible to get a copy of the interested bidder’s list if one exists? Or a copy of the Industry Day attendees from E-GON vendor day held June 6-9, 2023?

Answer: A representative list of potential offerors, generated through various market research activities, is included on the last page of this document. This list is being provided as a means to facilitate potential teaming opportunities and is not reflective of a commitment to propose by any particular firm(s). This list will not be maintained on SAM.gov.

3. Question: Is the intent of this solicitation to provide a complete solution to a technical area or will partial solutions to a technical area be considered? If both are acceptable which is preferred?

Answer: As stated in Section 1.0 of the Solicitation: “The Air Force anticipates awarding up to 5 awards for this solicitation (One award per Technical Area). However, the Air Force reserves the right to award zero, one, or more contracts for all, some or none of the solicited effort based on the offeror’s ability to perform desired work and funding fluctuations.” Per paragraph 2.1 of the Solicitation, “Each performer will develop software that meets the technical requirements of each Technical Area.”

4. Question: Will solutions involving a combination of SOSA aligned firmware and Big Iron aligned software be considered?

Answer: Please reference the CUI SOO which states in Paragraph 1.0, “The software will be developed, accelerated, integrated, and tested with Big Iron, Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOA), and Open Mission Systems (OMS) compliant hardware." Potential Offerors will need to demonstrate their best approach to solving these technical challenges.

Further, SOO Paragraph 2.2.3 states, “Specifically, the contractor will adopt the latest government-directed Big Iron software framework to develop portable, flexible, and tunable software modules that can be used across all Big Iron compliant systems. Big Iron compliance will ensure reduced upgrade timelines, capability extensibility, and possibility to mimic EW System software within a controlled environment."

5. Question: What, if any, is the TRL requirements of the proposed solution at the time of white paper submission?

Answer: Reference paragraph 2.1 of the Solicitation which states, “Each Technical Area has a requirement to mature existing government-owned algorithms (or in specific cases, develop new algorithms) to a minimum Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6.

Each performer will develop software that meets the technical requirements of each Technical Area.”

6. Question: What is the desired TRL after the base and two options?

Answer: Reference paragraph 2.1 of the Solicitation which states, “Each Technical Area has a requirement to mature existing government-owned algorithms (or in specific cases, develop new algorithms) to a minimum Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6.

Each performer will develop software that meets the technical requirements of each Technical Area.”

Q&As dated 9 May 2024

1. Question: Could you clarify from 4.1.2 White Paper Limits – Are technical areas required to be captured in separate white papers or is it permissible to include multiple areas in a single paper?

Answer: AFRL expects potential offerors to submit ONE (1) White Paper for EACH Technical Area. An offeror may submit more then ONE (1) White Paper for a Technical Area if the offeror wishes to propose unique technical approaches for a single Technical Area. Since each White Paper must be tied to a single Technical Area, offerors should clearly identify the Technical Area on the White Paper.

AFRL would also like to reiterate the following important points:

1) Reference Solicitation Paragraph 2.2: Once an offeror has received the CUI Information Package containing the CUI Statement of Objectives (SOO) and detailed Technical Area Descriptions, offerors must then submit a SEPARATE REQUEST to indicate their desire to receive the Classified Appendix for a Technical Area. Classified information will only be provided for those Technical Areas specifically requested.

Please pay particular attention to the dates identified in Attachment 2, Classified Appendix Request Instructions.

Requests for Classified Appendices MUST be received by 17 May 2024. AFRL will distribute Classified Appendices to the vetted potential offerors via the appropriate means on 22 May 2024. AFRL will utilize identical shipping speeds for all offerors and anticipates no less than 2-day mail options; potential offerors can expect to receive information on or before 24 May 2024.

2) Reference Solicitation Paragraph 5.2.1: This paragraph states, “Of the 5 pages allowed, up to 3 pages may be segregated into a classified addendum. If the offeror chooses not to submit a classified addendum, they may use the additional 3 pages at the unclassified level. The total White Paper submission, including any classified addendum shall not exceed 5 pages. NOTE: Any information contained in the White Paper that relates to information derived from any Classified Appendix received must remain classified and should be included in the classified addendum.” While AFRL recognizes that a White Paper may not need a classified addendum to be considered fully responsive, potential offerors should, at a minimum, review the applicable Technical Area Classified

Appendices for a full understanding of the MVP, Objective and Exemplar product goals.

E-Gon Potential Bidder’s List (alphabetical order)

Aalyria Tech Amazon AWS Anduril Arka Azimuth Corp BAE FAST Labs Ball Aerospace (BAE) Boeing Defense/Space Booz Allen Hamilton CFD Research Dbresearch DCS Corp Defense Unicorns Dorner Works Elbit Episys Science E Spectrum Strategies Expedition Technology Georgia Tech Research Institute HII Mission Technologies Infinity Labs Information System Laboratories KBR Wyle L3Harris SAS Leidos LinQuest Lockheed Martin Matrix Research Michigan Technological University Northrop Grumman Northrop Xetron Pacific-Defense Peerless Innovation Center Peraton Labs Raytheon RINCON Research Riverside Research SciTec, Inc Sierra Nev. Corp Southwest Research Institute SRC Inc SRI International Stotter Henke

STR

University of Dayton Research Institute Vertex Solutions